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Thanks for reading and commenting. If you’re a lurker, consider this an invitation to post a comment. Make a prediction about what might happen next year, like I and others did for Artvoice.

Thanks to Marc & Chris for the opportunity to do whatever I want here, however I want to.

Thanks to the other contributors on WNYM for adding to the insight and commentary. My favorite way to read the site now is to click on the WNYMedia heading and reading everyone’s contributions in one column.

Thanks to the team that delivered the new site, especially Chris Van Patten. It’s been working very well and people seem to like it.

Thanks to my beautiful wife and wonderful kids, who put up with this hobby of mine.

Thanks to my parents, who instilled in me a curiosity and love of learning, and gave me life experiences that shaped my points of view.

Thanks to western New York for being that snowy, static, friendly, predictable, dysfunctional place we all love so much.

Thanks to other local websites and blogs, some big and corporate, others little and independent, who bring their own perspectives on goings on in the Buffalo area, and keeping us hustling.

Thanks to the haters, who remind me of the good old days of usenet. You all suck and you all lose.

Finally, thanks to the political world for being such a consistent bucket of fail and source of material.

Have a wonderful Christmas and a happy & prosperous New Year. Posting will be light, so keep an eye on Twitter.

And now, Stevie Ray Vaughan playing Rude Mood on Unplugged in 1990, when MTV was relevant.

20 Responses to “Merry Christmas”

I’ve been a lurker for a couple of weeks now. As someone who was raised in WNY, I still enjoy reading about the madness…and the reasons why I left in the first place. I predict Charlotte will offically change it’s name to “South Buffalo”, seeing how most of Buffalo’ gen x and gen y population are coming to their senses and leaving for greener pastures. Merry Christmas!

Well, some of what the libertarians believe is quite fine with me. There are plenty of moral and social controls that government maintains that could and should be abolished. But there’s always the devolution in any argument to letting the market be the master of all. More often than not, that point of view is facile and silly, and I liken it to something a child would say. Caveman rules don’t necessarily work well in a modern, industrialized nation because there is a central fallacy to the libertarian argument – that left to their own devices, people would do good; that without rules and regulations, the market would self-regulate and there would be no bad actors, for fear of repercussions. Of course, the problem with that is that oftentimes avoidable repercussions can’t be undone.

So, Merry Christmas to the libertarians, too, for they give me and endless supply of silliness to mock and deride.

Mr. Bedenko:
Merry Christmas from MY villa on the Riviera.
I am thankful that your Leninist views and those of your fellow travelers continue to be ignored by the wealthy and powerful.
I am also thankful that you and your profit killing pals have been defeated in your attempts to collectivize medicine in OUR country. No one can come between me and my physician. And now the unwashed rabble will have no choice but to obtain health insurance from my associates.
My New Years wish is that you become enlightened enough to understand that the free market profits system of capitalism ensures a better way of life for all of US. In the New Year, stop by my exclusive club for a drink. (Please do dress appropriately and use the servant’s entrance in the rear.) I am sure a nice chat would bring you around to OUR way of thinking.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you as well. As for predictions for 2010:

-You’ll continue to label anyone that disagrees with your liberal political views as a “hater”

– A majority of your respondents will continue to blame George Bush for any mistake that Barack Obama makes

-Obama and Dems in Congress will continue to attempt to jam a Healthcare “reform” package down our throats despite the fact that just about all polls show that the vast majority of Americans simply don’t want it

-On a more positive note the global warming issue that has made Al Gore a very wealthy man over the last 20 years will continue to be questioned (finally) and be exposed for the over hyped fraud it really is